anyone visiting rio de janeiro will likely notice individuals sleeping, or living, on the streets of various neighborhoods - a helpful piece of information to remember, is not all of these individuals are homeless or panhandlers - several individuals who live far away sleep on the streets of zona sul to avoid spending excessive time in transit or all of their wages on transportation fees.

'individuals in street situations,' the official name used by cariocas, are the eyes and ears of the street - they are very familiar with whom lives in their area and visitors should be sure that even when going unacknowledged, street people recognize frequent faces - knowing who is a tourist, a local or who lives in the area is a skill generally all street people possess.

street people are normally more concentrated in leme and copacabana versus ipanema or leblon - in recent years the number of individuals in street situations has decreased significantly - during the day individuals who panhandle are normally seen on commercial avenues, near street markets or busy squares.